Tag Archives: webOS

Tamoggemon has released Editor for webOS which is claimed to be the first text editor available for the platform.

“Palm’s webOS devices can be used as USB sticks – loading text files, html pages and all kinds of source code onto them is easy. But once the text is on the box, it stays there – editing it is impossible.

Tamoggemon Editor is the first text editor for webOS. Use it to work with all kinds of plain text files while on the go – all webOS 2.0 devices are supported.

Editor is fully multitasking capable. Open multiple files in cards, and switch between them effortlessly like you would switch between applications.

As a bonus feature, Editor also supports a flexible Find&Replace facility which makes bulk changes of files really easy.

The product is available on App Catalog as of this writing. A single user license costs 1.99 USD.”

The HP Veer will be available from AT&T in 11 days time and priced at $99.99 on a two year contract. Looks great, but maybe too small for the serious user?

“AT&T today announced that the HP Veer 4G will be available from AT&T at its stores and online on May 15. Veer, which AT&T will offer in both black and white versions for $99.99 with a two-year contract, is one of the smallest no-compromises smartphones on the market. With AT&T’s 4G speeds, you can upload and download videos, maps, and pictures faster than ever, and view them on Veer’s vivid touchscreen. Plus you get all those great webOS features — Just Type, HP Synergy, easy and fast messaging and email, and the ability to keep multiple apps open at once and easily switch back and forth between them.”

Some good news for webOS developers- they can now use promo codes in their apps. There is, however, a potential design flaw in the system which precentral points out- “It’s a fairly well-known thing in online sales that offering a coupon code field on the checkout cart can actually hurt sales. The theory goes that people see the coupon code field and think “Hm, I want to save some money here.” So they stop their checkout process and go look for coupon codes. Maybe they find them, maybe they don’t – but either way introducing something that might interrupt the purchase process and send people away from the “buy now” button can be a Very Bad idea.”

NDrive has released the first real satellite navigation solution for webOS. The US version costs $49.99 and maps for other countries are available, but it does seem a little basic. precentral has written up a review of the product and with little other choice around it may still sell quite well.

“We’ve been testing the nDrive beta for some time, and while earlier versions of the app were somewhat rocky and had not yet adopted webOS UI conventions (especially gestures), the app has come a long way. The release candidate, while still looking unlike most webOS applications, incorporates enough standard interface elements that it will be easy enough to use. Another potential challenge is file size. nDrive maps can be quite large (the U.S. map alone is 2.3 GB) and take a long time to initially download especially on a cellular data connection, and storage space used for maps will obviously be unavailable for photos, videos, music and the other types of files users may keep on their webOS devices. Then again, the same is true for the homebrew Navit solution; it’s just the nature of an on-device versus streamed navigation solution.”

Jeff Hawkins will be speaking at the the Olin College Commencement Ceremony on May 15th. Should be fascinating to hear from the man who was once the king of mobile computing.

“Upon recommendation of the Commencement Steering Committee and with the consent of the Board of Trustees, President Richard K. Miller has invited Jeff Hawkins to give the main address at Olin’s sixth Commencement on May 15, 2011.

Mr. Hawkins co-founded Handspring with Donna Dubinsky in 1998 after five years together at Palm Computing. In 1992, he founded Palm Computing. He is often credited as the designer who reinvented the handheld market and has architected many computer products including the PalmPilot, Visor, and Treo families of handheld computers and communicators. In 2002, he created the Redwood Neuroscience Institute (RNI), a scientific research institute focused on understanding how the human neocortex works. RNI has now become The Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at UC Berkeley. In 2004, he co-authored On Intelligence detailing his theory of the neocortex. Based on this book, in 2005, he co-founded Numenta based on a new type of memory architecture, Hierarchical Temporal Memory, modeled after the mammalian cortex, that can solve problems in pattern recognition and machine learning. He received a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1979 and was elected to the National Academic of Engineering (NAE) in 2003.  He has received numerous awards for both his entrepreneurial skills and engineering successes. Among them was being selected entrepreneur of the year by Cornell in 2000.

Mr. Hawkins’s connection to Olin College developed through his participation in the 2009 Duke Summit (co-sponsored by Olin College) on the NAE Grand Challenges where he was a keynote speaker on “Reverse Engineering the Brain.”

Pre Central has nabbed a photo of what is supposed to be a keyboardless webOS smartphone. This makes a lot of sense because the market for larger screened devices is immense and will still retain the keyboard on alternative models for those who require quicker data entry. Time will tell as to how true this is, but let’s hope it is.

Interesting editorial over at pre central entitled Why HP is not giving up on smartphones. With webOS clinging onto a very small percentage of the smartphone market, you have to wonder if HP is much more likely to concentrate on tablets than smartphones if the new devices fail. I seriously hope it stays the course, but I’m not convinced.

“Bottom line is, unless we have completely misunderstood what HP was telling us when they emphasised their interest in creating a strong webOS ecosystem, there is no way at all that they are giving up their Smartphone line. This is an area where HP still have a chance to gain an edge on the competition. If they play their cards right, you’ll start seeing the other companies struggling to catch up with what HP has done with the ecosystem that they’ll be selling, and that IS something that HP wants to see happen.”

HP has released the webOS 3.0 SDK which offers the ability to develop for the HP TouchPad and many other devices which will head our way in the future.

Today, we’re giving you the tools to start creating the future, as developers in our Early Access program can now access the webOS 3.0 SDK. It has everything you need to start developing apps for HP TouchPad and the next-generation of webOS devices:

• Use Enyo, the new framework that supports new and future webOS form factors
• Leverage core webOS features like Just Type, Synergy, Exhibition and more
• Reference new UI components, layouts and application examples
• Get helpful guidance on app structuring, design and navigation for TouchPad

If you’re not already a member of our Early Access program, email pdc@palm.com to join and get your hands on the webOS 3.0 SDK today.

Riz over at pre central has written an excellent editorial pondering whether HP should put webOS on all PCs and not just HP built ones. I guess it is a balance between believing the OS will tempt enough extra people to buy HP hardware and seeing the OS everywhere, at which point it would no doubt generate extra phone sales and give HP a huge boost.

I vote to go for it and make it available on everything, but what do I know?

“In trying to establish a meaningful foothold in the current mobile OS space, HP has a massive task on their hands. Apple defined what the smartphone market is today, and quite simply still are the benchmark for what a polished, walled-garden ecosystem should look like. Google has swarmed the market with it’s free-for-all approach in Android, shortening the release cycle for new handsets to such a breakneck pace that only the most well resourced competitors could possibly hope to keep up. Even two of the biggest technology companies on the planet, Microsoft and Nokia, have found reason to join forces in order to better compete. In the midst of this, HP announced on February 9th the potentially brilliant strategy of leveraging the full force of their PC and print distrubution scale to rapidly expand the webOS footprint. While this is an amazing stride in the right direction, I think they can go even further. If HP can take a page from Microsoft’s book, they might be able to make a monumental impact.”

If anything limits the default webOS browser it is space which is at a premium on the devices released to date. Complete Browser will help a little by offering a full screen view and tabs for good measure. Looks great.

Complete Browser This is the most complete web browser available. Current Features: > Multi-browser with “tabs” capabilities. (To scroll tabs please swipe the tab bar) > Full Screen Browsing > Change Homepage > Lock Rotation > Clear Cookies/Cache > Anonymous surfing > Landscape and portrait views are supported. > New Graphic design (B&W DESIGN) by Daniello Lipelle > Multi tabs, many browsers at the same time > Add/remove bookmarks > URL Exporting capabilities > Set/Disable Private mode: You can elect if you want cookies to be erased or not after exiting the browser > Unfiltered search engine. And MANY more features! Thank you!

The news that the Palm OS emulator has returned to webOS 2.1 will bring joy to some of you who are still struggling to give up what was a brilliant mobile OS. Emphasis on ‘was’.

I tried StyleTap on the iPhone today for old times’ sake and was shocked at how dated Palm OS looks now in comparison to all of the current mobile operating systems, especially webOS and iOS. I just don’t understand why some want to continue to use Palm OS, besides the need for specific apps that have never been ported elsewhere, and do think it is time to let it go and remember it fondly.